Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Matt Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing. Kenseth is 10th in the standings with one win entering Sunday's race at Pocono Raceway.

Q: What is an errand or chore in your daily life people might be surprised to learn you do yourself?

A: Feed the cats and clean the litter boxes.

Clean the litter boxes? That’s a terrible chore. Can’t you get one of your girls to do that or something? (Kenseth has three daughters aged 6 and younger.)

At the moment, I have a hard time getting my girls to do about anything. (Laughs) But we’re working on it.

Q: If you could do any race over again, which race would you choose?

A: There’s not really one that pops into mind. Every week you leave and you know there are things you could do better or different. You always try to learn from that, but I have a different outlook than a lot of other people: I think you are who you are today because of everything that’s happened in the past. I don’t think you take any of that stuff back and change it, because then you’re not the same person. There’s tons of times I wish I would have made a move or held on to win a race or whatever, but I can’t really pick one that I’d want to go do over.

Q: The longest race of the year is 600 miles. How long of a race could you physically handle without a driver change?

A: I don’t know. I think we should try it and see who the last one to fall out of the seat is.

Last one standing. I like that.

(Laughs) I mean, 600 miles is a long time. But through the years, they’ve gotten the cars much more comfortable with the seats we have, there’s more room in them, they’re cooler — so I’d say it’s not as hard as it once was. It’s just long. I think you could go quite a bit further if you had to, physically, but I’m not sure anybody would want to watch it much longer.

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NASCAR drivers share their insight on how to win at Pocono Raceway.
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Q: Let’s say president of NASCAR was an elected position voted on by the drivers — and you decided to run. What would one of your campaign promises be?

A: I’d promise it would be a dictatorship again. That I’m going to make rules I think are best for the sport and everybody is going to follow them or go do something different.

So, “Vote for me and you’ll have to do things my way,” basically?

It’s, “Vote for me and you’ve just got to worry about showing up at the track, racing, following the rules and moving on from there.” I think democracies are great, but none of us think the same. Even as drivers, we all want what’s best for us or what we think we’ll be most successful with. We all care deeply about the sport and where it goes and where it’s headed, but we’re drivers — we’re not the best ones to run the sport and make the decisions. And all the drivers are very, very different. So they probably wouldn’t elect me because of that.

Q: At the start of this year, exactly 2,900 drivers had ever raced in the Sprint Cup Series. Where do you rank among those 2,900?

A: I think I’m in the top 2,900.

I think you’re right.

That’s a tough one, especially to ask someone to rate themselves. There have been a ton of great drivers through this sport. I’ve been very fortunate in my career to drive for great race teams with great equipment and great people working on the cars. There’s a lot of really great drivers out there who never made it to this level or who made it and were only able to run a couple races because they were in inferior equipment. So many great drivers never got opportunities to drive the equipment I drive and work with the people I work with, or maybe they would have had a lot more success than me.

Q: What do you think your reputation is — and is that reputation accurate?

A: I don’t know. (Laughs)

I had a feeling you were going to say that before I asked the question.

I don’t spend a ton of time worrying about that. I always want to be respected. I guess I worry more about what my wife and kids think. I’ve had the same basic outlook and theory on racing for my whole career, honestly. Some people respect that and some people don’t.

Matt Kenseth finished second to six-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson in the 2013 final standings. Here the drivers joke around before the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November 2013.
Andrew Weber, USA TODAY Sports

Matt Kenseth after winning a Busch Series race -- the Stater Bros 300 -- at California Speedway in 2007. He finished the season fourth in the standings and his 624 laps led in the Chase were the most of any driver.
Gary A. Vasquez, USA TODAY Sports

Matt Kenseth won four times in the Cup car in 2006, including back-to-back victories in August at Michigan and Bristol. He become the first driver since Dale Earnhardt to win back-to-back Bristol night races and he became one of only three drivers to make the Chase for the Cup in each of its first three seasons.
Bob Brodbeck, AP

Q: A famous chef wants you to invest in the new restaurant he’s opening, but he wants you to pick the cuisine. What type of food would your restaurant serve?

A: I would have a really good steakhouse. It’s hard to beat a really good steak when it’s cooked right. So a high-end place like a Del Frisco’s.

Q: What is the most daring thing you’ve done outside of racing?

A: This interview with you. (Smiles)

No, I think it just all depends how you look at it. I feel like I never take unnecessary risks, but there are a lot of things I like — mountain biking, flying, skiing. I guess you could say all those things are daring or have more risk than running on a treadmill.

I don't know about that. Have you seen the Taylor Swift commercial where she falls on the treadmill?

No. But yeah, there's some risk in everything.

Q: In a move to generate more excitement, NASCAR decides in an upcoming race they’re going to require every driver to have a passenger in the car. You get to pick the passenger. Who do you choose?

Q: How often do you talk inside the car without hitting the radio button?

A: (Laughs) Not nearly often enough. I think it’s funny when you get mad or something happens, the first thing you do is hit the button. It’s like, “Why do you hit the button? Everybody can hear you now.” I don’t talk to myself very often in the car. Every once in awhile, I’ll get frustrated and maybe yell to myself a little bit. But not very often.

Q: Who will win the Sprint Cup in 2021?

A: Well, I mean, I have no idea. (Smiles) I don’t know what the format is going to be and I don’t know who is going to be in it. It’s pretty unpredictable these days. Who would have thought Kyle (Busch) would have won last year after racing two-thirds of the season? So I have no idea what’s going to happen next.

Q: I’ve been asking each driver to give me a question for the next interview. The last interview was with Austin Dillon, and his question was: If NASCAR gave drivers a turbo button like IndyCar’s push-to-pass technology, which tracks would you want to use it the most?

A: I can’t think of anywhere I wouldn’t want to use it, but probably Talladega. You’re going the same speed all the way around the track, and you can’t use any handling characteristics or talent or anything to pass anybody aside from being in the right place in the draft. So if you could just pull to the outside, push the button and pass the whole field four-wide, that’d work out pretty good.

And do you have a question for the next interview?

Let me know when you know who the next interview is and I’ll give you a question.

Aug. 1: Chris Buescher wins the Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway. The race was delayed because of inclement weather Sunday and called on lap 132 of 160 Monday because of fog.
Brian Lawdermilk, Getty Images